


dancing in the mint flavored moonlight

by neonmoonlight



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderfluid, Makeup, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Trans Male Character, none of ot5 are Cis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 08:27:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6510496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonmoonlight/pseuds/neonmoonlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Harry is one of the most important people in their life. He is so supportive of them and is just a fountain of praise when Louis does something that scares them, like wearing a full face of makeup out in public or even wearing a small bit of makeup on their bad days. Harry constantly validates Louis on bad days and is just there from them constantly. </em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  <em>    Louis may be a star, but to Louis, Harry is a supernova.</em></p><p> </p><p>The one where ot5 isn’t cis, Louis has the best friends someone could ask for and makeup is in there somewhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	dancing in the mint flavored moonlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [louissass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/louissass/gifts).



> Okay!! This fic was so much fun to write even though it had a lot of false starts and stops. The title of this fic actually came before the fic itself and that was a first for me!!
> 
> The people I’d like to thank for this: 
> 
> [Zoe](http://millionairelouis.tumblr.com) because they gave me some amazing prompts and is so so so amazing and everyone should go follow them on tumblr!!!
> 
> [Amal](http://agenderogers.tumblr.com) for being the best beta I could’ve asked for (also follow her on tumblr she’s the best)
> 
> [Punk](http://bestfriendshl.tumblr.com) for giving me some inspiration about makeup Louis and just being an all around amazing person. (go follow lun on tumblr)
> 
> Twenty One Pilots bc I listened to them the most while writing this (and I’m actually listening to them rn)
> 
> The admins of this exchange because this is an amazing thing and I’m glad that I decided to join this exchange even though I should probably be doing school work. 
> 
> The following is a list of ot5’s genders and pronouns:
> 
> Louis: nonbinary (they/them/their/theirs/themself)
> 
> Harry: genderfluid (he/him/his/himself)
> 
> Niall: demiboy (ze/zir/zir/zirs/zirself)
> 
> Zayn: agender (ne/nem/nir/nirs/nemself)
> 
> Liam: trans boy (he/him/his/himself)
> 
> Anyways!!! On to the fic!!!

 

Floating through a void on a thinly veiled hunk of rock and water is terrifying if thought about for too long, which Louis does almost constantly. Take now, for instance. 

When Harry came home, he found that Louis was lying on the floor in the center of the carpet, looking up at the ceiling unblinkingly. The fact that Louis didn’t react to him coming home (coupled with the fact that they were lying on the floor) was enough of a clue for him to know that Louis was questioning their existence once again. Shaking his head slightly, Harry smiled to himself and carefully undid the laces to his wedges, stepping out of them before going to sit next to Louis. Gently nudging them with his toe, Harry climbed over Louis to sit criss cross on the sofa, content to just observe Louis for a bit. Louis looked over at Harry briefly before rolling onto their stomach.

“How was your day?” Louis squirmed on the carpet listlessly at Harry's question. 

“It was great up until an hour ago.” Their answer was muffled due to their face being pressed into the carpet they were lying on. 

“Questioning your existence again?” When Louis nodded against the carpet, Harry slipped off the sofa and laid down next to them, letting one of his arms rest along Louis back. 

“What’re you doing?” Harry rested his head on the back of Louis shoulder, pressing his lips into their shirt in what could be called a kiss. 

“Giving you a cuddle,” Harry mumbled into the shirt’s fabric (it was definitely one of Harry's but at this point in their relationship, Harry didn't really mind). “And anyways, Zayn is back from nir trip back home.” At that Louis sighed loudly and rolled over in Harry’s arms to face him. 

“When is ne gonna be here?” Harry glanced up at the clock that he put on their wall (even though Louis protested because who needs analog clocks in the digital age?).

“In half an hour I think. Do you want me to make some snacks, or should we order takeaway?” 

“You should make something,” Louis said as they got up, stretching their back, which ached since they were on the floor for hours. “I’m gonna go change and maybe put some eyeliner on?” They said the last bit as more of a question, looking to Harry for reassurance. The makeup thing was fairly new to Louis, even though Harry did it for years and kept telling them that wearing it doesn’t make them less valid as a nonbinary person. They have had random people on the street ask if they were a girl because of the makeup, and that was never pleasant. It made them feel a bit gross, actually, and always put them off of makeup for a day or so afterwards. At least Harry understands what they’re going through when people misgender them or someone makes a rude comment. Louis nudged Harry’s side with their foot before going to the hall bathroom to get ready before Zayn arrives.

++

A week or so later, Louis found themself on the bh cosmetics website, looking for some new lipsticks and eyeshadow palettes when Niall walked in and flopped onto the bed next to Louis. Ze looked exhausted, but also well rested at the same time and Louis just moved their laptop so Niall could rest zir head on Louis thigh. Running a hand through zir hair, Louis continued to scroll through the site, trying to find something that they could buy, letting Niall gather zirself before talking. 

“Australia was nice,” ze began. Louis looked down at Niall and saw that ze had zir head turned towards the laptop on Louis bed in front of them. 

“How long have you been home?” Niall shrugged slightly turning zir face into Louis thigh.

“An hour or so, I only stopped at my place to drop my things off.” Louis hummed slightly and went back to looking for eyeshadow pallets to buy. The two of them sat in comfortable silence before Niall stood with a kiss to Louis temple before ze went to go raid the kitchen. Louis bought the galaxy chic palette and a few of the lipsticks from the pop art collection before shutting down their laptop and heading to the kitchen. 

++ 

Nick has always been a good friend of Louis for a while even though sometimes both of them seem like they don't get along that often. Louis still loves him though, which is why they found themself on Nick’s sofa on Saturday, scrolling through his netflix account, with Nick’s dog, Pig, on their lap. 

“Nick, there’s nothing good to watch.” Nick poked his head out from the kitchen, raising an eyebrow at them. 

“Yes there is, just put on _Project Runway_ , I know how much you like that.” Louis stuck their tongue out at Nick, exiting out of Netflix to put it on the episodes Nick recorded. Pig huffed out what could be counted as a laugh and settled down for a nap on Louis legs. Nick came out of the kitchen when Tim Gunn was telling the contestants about their challenge for the episode. He had a plate of the little finger sandwiches that Louis was partial to on occasion, despite how much they protest to the contrary. Nick moved Pig to the other side of Louis before he put his legs up on their lap. Rolling an eye him, Louis grabbed a few of the finger sandwiches and settled back into the sofa, content to watch people stress over fabric and deadlines. 

*

It was after a few hours of binging on _Project Runway_ and a few _Doctor Who_ episodes that Nick decided it was best for both of them to go out and see the town. Or whatever it was he said; Louis isn’t really all that sure. They’d never admit it, but they weren’t paying attention because Rose was about to do something awesome and badass and Louis didn’t feel like diverting their attention from the TV. So that’s how Louis found themself standing in a record shop, flipping through a bunch of LP’s, trying to find something for Harry - because despite Harry incessantly denying his hipster tendencies, Louis can see right through him. There was something comforting about having Nick next to them, looking through the boxes of records in comfortable silence, happy with each others company. Moments like these make Louis unbelievably happy that they met Harry and that all of Harry’s friends accepted Louis, because they know that not everyone is so readily accepting of Louis being ‘different’ as people say. 

When the two of them walked out of the record shop with bags in their hands, Louis linked the pinky of their free hand with Nick, swinging both of their hands slightly in between them. Nick glanced down at their linked hands before he turned to give Louis a smile and bumped his shoulder against theirs in companionable silence. Nick nudged Louis’ arm and when they looked over at him, he gestured towards the museum they were walking by and raised an eyebrow in a question. Shrugging, Louis pulled Nick up the steps into the museum. 

++ 

Whenever Liam came over to Louis and Harry’s place there was always some form of contest that was going to happen because of reasons that Liam wasn’t going to explain probably ever. Today it was Liam challenging Louis to a few rounds of _Mortal Combat_ , even though he knew that, besides the arcade ones and a couple apps on their phone, Louis sucked at most video games . So, even though they were bad at a lot of console games, Louis accepted the challenge and was currently button mashing to try and beat Liam. Harry was sitting on the armchair next to the sofa, curled up and drawing something in his sketchbook, smiling up at Louis in amusement whenever they lost. An alarm on Liam's phone began to ring right before he was about to finish off Louis’ character in the game. Pausing the game, Liam glanced towards his phone and pouted slightly at the notification.

“What's up, Lima?” Harry asked from his spot on the armchair, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“Have to take off my binder,” Liam dropped his controller on the sofa and got up, grabbing his bag from the floor. “Be back in a minute.” Harry waved at him as he walked down the hall to the guest bathroom. When the door shut, he got up and stretched before dropping his sketchbook on the armchair and jumping on Louis. Louis barely had enough time to drop their controller next to Liam's before they got a lapful of Harry. 

“Hi, love, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Louis said breathlessly. Harry laughed and kissed Louis cheek dramatically, making sure to leave some of his deep purple lipstick on Louis. Giggling, they pushed at Harry, fruitlessly trying to stop him from leaving his lipstick all over their face. 

“Have I told you how much I love you today?” Rolling their eyes at Harry's dramatics, Louis pressed a quick kiss to his lips before pushing him off of their lap. 

“Not in the last twenty minutes or so,” Louis ran their fingers through Harry's hair, smiling softly at him when he leaned into his touch like a cat. “I love you too you silly kitty.” Harry of course made a loud and exaggerated meow, which led to him landing on the floor in front of the sofa. Liam walked out at that moment, holding his overnight bag in one hand and looking between the two of them. Smiling innocently, Louis held out Liam's controller in their hand. 

“You know, I’m not even gonna ask.” Stepping over Harry, Liam dropped the bag on the sofa next to him as he sat down and unpaused the game. Eventually Harry made his way back to his arm chair to finish what he was sketching as Liam and Louis played _Mortal Combat_. All in all, a fairly uneventful Saturday. 

* 

Later, when Louis was laying in bed next to Harry, gently playing with his hair as he fell asleep, Louis found themself taken aback by how beautiful Harry looked with the moonlight coming in through the mint colored curtains and landing on Harry in small patches, moving as the curtains do in the slight breeze made by their aircon unit. 

Sometimes Louis was taken aback by how beautiful simple things were, and how beautiful Harry could be without trying. Sometimes when it's really late and Louis thoughts are preventing them from sleeping, they just watch Harry sleep for a bit, taking in how soft his face looks and how his hair gets all messy on the pillow because even though they do have silk pillows, Harry prefers to sleep on the cotton ones that Louis buys. So Louis just gently pushes Harry’s hair off his face and traces soft little shapes on Harry's chest over his shirt. 

Louis thinks that Harry was born from a supernova sometimes. They think that Harry was sent to Earth on a mission and went rouge and fell in love with the planet and the people in it. Whenever Louis sees Harry doing something nice for someone, be it helping their elderly neighbor with her groceries or helping a lost kid find their parent at the mall, Louis is just taken aback by how kind Harry can be. He gives away smiles and hugs like they're free and don't cost him anything, where Louis has to work to smile for people they know personally and is only partial to hugs from people that they are comfortable with and who they know for a fact won't do any harm to them. 

Harry is one of the most important people in their life. He is so supportive of them and is just a fountain of praise when Louis does something that scares them, like wearing a full face of makeup out in public or even wearing a small bit of makeup on their bad days. Harry constantly validates Louis on bad days and is just there from them constantly. 

Louis may be a star, but to Louis, Harry is a supernova.

++

Zayn’s place has always been a strong source of comfort to Louis. They can't really explain why, because there are a billion reasons, but part of it has to be the way that the decor is always so soft looking and how cozy everything feels. So more often than not, Louis found themself at nirs place. Perrie was back from the trip she took to visit some of her friends in California, which means that the three of them were sitting around and painting each other's nails like grade schoolers at a sleepover - the three of them always do this whenever they can, but that's besides the point). 

“What do you mean I'm too soft pastel to wear black nail polish?” Louis looked up at Zayn who just shrugged and continued to paint nir nails a bright gold color that Perrie picked out for nem. 

“You're just too adorable to rock the ‘emo nails,’ as Niall calls them.” Perrie let out a loud laugh and leaned over and poked Zayn in the shoulder with her nail bottle. Zayn pouted at her and whined slightly. 

“Oh hush you. If Louis wants to paint their nails black, let them.” Louis stuck their tongue out at Zayn and grabbed the black nail polish from the pile of nail stuff in front of them. Rolling nir eyes, Zayn carefully closed up the bottle of nail polish and watched Louis paint their nails. 

As soon as everyone's nails were dry, Perrie brought out the bowl of snacks that she had in the fridge and pulled up a movie on Netflix, pulling both of them up onto the couch and sandwiching Louis between her and Zayn. Smiling softly to themself, Louis relaxed back into the couch, comforted and content.

++

Louis was in Sephora for the second time in a month because they wanted this eyeshadow palette they saw on the site along with some eyeliner and a new thing of foundation. They were just finishing up swatching some eyeliners and lipsticks they found pretty, thinking they might buy some. Remembering the bonus they recently got at work, Louis decided to treat themself. As they were contemplating this, their attention was grabbed when someone in passing said that their makeup was really pretty. Louis smiled and thanked them, looking down at the swatches on their arm and put the copper, teal, and gold eyeliners in their small basket along with a soft dusty rose liquid to matte lipstick. Louis could sense someone talking about them, so they looked around the display and saw the person who complimented their makeup earlier talking to someone, presumably their friend. Louis moved around to the other side of the display, pretending to look at the foundations as they eavesdropped on the strangers’ conversation.

“Did you see that girl with the deep purple lipstick and navy eyeliner?” Louis felt their stomach roll with nausea at being misgendered. Louis knew, logically, that they were dressed like what society perceives as a girl and that the person wouldn’t know that Louis wasn’t, but that didn’t help the queasy feeling in their stomach. Quietly, Louis moved to the checkout, ready to go home and crawl into their bed and not come out for a couple days. After everything was paid for and bagged, Louis quickly walked out of Sephora, flagging down a taxi as soon as they got outside.

*

Harry, bless his heart, always seemed to know when something was wrong before Louis even told him and had tea ready for Louis when they got home (because these things always seem to happen when Louis’ is out and about). When Louis walked in the front door, Harry was standing in the kitchen doorway, holding Louis’ favorite mug in his hands, steam still curling up in the air. Louis kicked their shoes off and dropped the bag from Sephora on the hall table before walking over to Harry and hugging him tightly. Harry rested his head on top of Louis’, hugging them back with one arm, holding the cup out to the side so it wouldn’t splash on Louis. After a minute or so, Louis pulled back and took the cup of tea from him, wrapping their fingers around the mug and holding it close to their chest. Harry kissed their forehead softly, letting his hands rest on Louis waist.

“I drew a bath for you and put in some bubble bath stuff, and lit your favorite candles,” Harry squeezed Louis gently, patting him on the side. “Your comforter is in the dryer and it’ll be ready for movies and a cuddle when you’re done.” Louis nodded and pressed a soft kiss to Harry’s shoulder.

“Love you,” they said, softly. Harry whispered it back before gently nudging Louis to the bathroom. Pressing one last kiss on Harry’s cheek, Louis shuffled down the hall to the bathroom, sipping on their tea as they went. Stepping into the bathroom, Louis smiled slightly at the scent of vanilla and lavender, their anxiety (that had at some point replaced the nauseous feeling in their stomach) slowly dissipating. Sinking into the warm bath while holding their tea, Louis felt okay again, and extremely grateful for Harry. Sighing softly, Louis rested the mug of tea on the floor next to the bath before sinking far enough into the water that only their head poked out above the water.

After Louis started to prune and the tea was all gone, Louis let the tub drain as they got out, wrapping themself up in a fluffy towel, drying off. Picking up the cup, Louis walked into their shared bedroom, seeing that Harry had already laid out some clothes for them. Setting the now empty mug on the bedside table, Louis quickly dried off and pulled on the lavender sweater and old joggers before heading out into the living room to cuddle with their datemate and most likely watch _Ponyo_ for the umpteenth time. Louis couldn’t be happier with picking someone so supportive as Harry.

++

On good days, Louis can be found either on the balcony of their apartment or on the roof of the building, which is where El found them on their day off because it was warm and sunny outside for once. They looked up when they heard the door to the roof slam shut, and when they saw El, Louis scrambled up off of the concrete, running over to her and tackling her in a tight hug. Laughing, El wrapped her arms around them, dropping her bag on the ground as she stumbled back slightly from the force of Louis tackle. 

“I missed you too, you nerd. How is everyone?” Louis squeezed her tightly before pulling back, but leaving their hands on her arms.

“Everyone’s good. Zayn’s music is finally gaining traction online though so there's a possibility that ne might be able to produce a full ep.” Eleanor yelled out of excitement and jumped slightly, tugging Louis into a hug, even though they weren’t the person to congratulate on this. Laughing, Louis grabbed the bag she dropped and dragged her back inside so they could call everyone up for a welcome home party.

*

Parties that Louis organizes are better than the ones that they’re invited to, mainly because Louis is guaranteed to know everyone at their parties, which isn’t always likely at others’ parties.

Louis was standing behind the couch, leaning over it with their head on Liam’s shoulder as he told a story, gesturing wildly and nearly hitting Louis in the nose. Louis bit Liam's neck in retaliation before they turned around and went to go look for Niall. When they found zir, they saw that Niall was gripping onto Nick’s arm tightly to stay balanced because for some reason ze was wearing a pair of Harry’s heels. Nick was trying to tell zir about this story from his work probably. Niall was steadily ignoring whatever story Nick was telling zir. Louis went over to where the two of them were and shoved Nick out of the way to get to Niall.

“Niall, what the hell are you doing?” Niall turned to Louis and wrapped zir arms around them, giggling loudly. Niall was an amusing drunk, and brought out Louis’ protective side since ze acted like a baby kitten. 

“I make these high heels work, though!” Laughing slightly, Louis helped zir out of Harry’s high heels and pushed the shoes under the table they were standing near. 

“Niall did you just quote a Panic song?” 

“Maaaaybe.” Louis shook their head and picked Niall up, tossing zir over their shoulder, walking into the kitchen to get Niall some water, mainly because they didn’t trust Niall not to break zir ankles trying to walk in Harry’s heels, which were too big for zir anyways. Setting Niall down on the counter, they grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and started to fill it with water. Niall seemed content with zirself and was humming a song quietly.

Harry stumbled into the kitchen a few moments later. His skirt was trailing on the ground and kept getting tangled up in his feet and causing him to trip over it. Louis refrained from reminding Harry that they told him to not wear such a long skirt when he would be drinking. Harry then draped himself over Louis’ back and mouthed at their neck. Laughing, Louis gently pushed Harry away and turned around when they saw that Niall was starting to sober up. Harry giggled into Louis neck before pulling away and grabbing their hand, walking out of the kitchen and towards the door out to their balcony. The only other person out on the balcony was Zayn, who was smoking and watching the people down in the alley next to the building. Harry ignored nem and turned to Louis once again, wrapping his arms around Louis’ middle and swaying slightly. Louis smiled softly and wrapped their arms around Harry’s neck, leaning into his chest.

“So why’d you drag me out here?” Louis asked, looking up at Harry from where their face was resting and and felt like their breath was knocked out of their chest. The full moon was hanging low in the sky, framing Harry’s head, the light shining through his hair which made him look like he had a halo of lightly around him. Harry truly is the most beautiful person they’ve ever seen and sometimes, like now, it really hits them with how lucky they are to be with Harry. 

“Just wanted to dance with you.” Even though the two of them have been dating for four years, the simplest things give Louis butterflies in their stomach. Nodding slightly against Harry’s chest, they leaned against him more and swayed to the beat of a song neither of them could hear, but somehow still knew. Maybe the moon was singing for them and their bodies just knew how to move for the song. 

After a couple minutes of them just swaying back and forth on the balcony, Louis looked up at Harry, pulling back slightly so they could get a proper look at him. Harry was looking down at them and smiled softly before leaning down and pressing their lips together. The kiss tasted like the mint drink that Perrie mixes at parties since she’s the only one who knows how to make it. Louis sunk into it, feeling a bit like they were drowning in a way but in the best way possible because they knew that Harry would always save them no matter what. Pulling away from the kiss, Louis looked up at Harry again and then up at the moon that was still framing him and making him look like the angel that he is. Turning back to Harry, they smiled and kissed him softly once again, content with how they ended up where they are. 

++

Floating through a void on what is basically a rock that has a very thin atmosphere can be terrifying if thought of for too long, which is something Louis does at least once a week if not more. They question their existence and if anything at all is real in any way as they lie face down on the living room carpet. However, they also have an amazing person to fall back on when thinking about life gets to be a Lot and really, that makes living on this rock in a void bearable and even a bit enjoyable, that makes Louis happy with their life. All is good, really, and the fact that not everyone ‘gets’ who Louis is as a person is fine because they have the best friends a person could ask for and a wonderful partner that is there for Louis no matter what. So, really, what could be better than that?

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this fic!!! Please leave kudos and a comment about what you thought!!
> 
> Also, Zoe I hope this was close to what you wanted!!
> 
>  
> 
> [ tumblr ](www.stardustlouie.tumblr.com)


End file.
